Fewer than 50 COVID-19 patients in B.C. ICUs as of latest update

A patient is attached to a ventilator in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at St. Paul's hospital in downtown Vancouver, Tuesday, April 21, 2020. (Jonathan Hayward / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

COVID-19-related hospitalizations and intensive care admissions continued to fall in B.C. on Friday, according to the provincial Ministry of Health.

The number of coronavirus patients in ICU in B.C. Friday was 46, the first time that number has been below 50 since last summer.

Overall, there are 368 test-positive COVID-19 patients in B.C. hospitals, a figure that includes both those with serious illness and those who were admitted to hospital for other reasons and tested positive incidentally.

The ministry does not report the number of hospitalizations in each category in its daily update. Health officials have previously estimated that roughly 40 per cent of hospitalizations are incidental.

Declining hospitalizations and caseloads have prompted health officials to lift most COVID-19-related restrictions in the province, including the mask mandate for indoor public spaces, which ended at 12:01 a.m. Friday. 

The last time there were fewer than 50 people receiving COVID-19 treatment in intensive care units in B.C. was Aug. 16, 2021.

Friday's update also saw three more COVID-19-related deaths, all of them in the Fraser Health region. Since the pandemic began, a total of 2,935 deaths have been attributed to the coronavirus.

Many of those who died were residents of long-term care. No new outbreaks were reported in such facilities on Friday. There are 14 COVID-19 outbreaks currently ongoing in B.C.'s health-care system.

Data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control indicates that unvaccinated people are overrepresented, relative to their share of the population, among the province's hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths. 

As of Friday, 90.7 per cent of eligible people ages five and older in B.C. have received at least a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 86.6 per cent have received two shots.

Among adults, 58.4 per cent have received a booster dose. 

Friday's update also included 288 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19, though that number is not considered an accurate reflection of transmission of the coronavirus in the province.

B.C. only administers PCR tests to people for whom a positive or negative result will inform decisions about treatment or care. That means people who are admitted to hospital, people who are pregnant, people who are at risk of more serious illness and are eligible for COVID-19 treatments, and people who live or work in congregate living settings with others who are at high risk.

Others who have symptoms of COVID-19 cannot get a PCR test, and are therefore not included in daily case counts.

Rapid antigen tests are becoming more readily available in the province, however. As of Friday, people ages 50 and older can pick up rapid tests for at-home use for free at participating pharmacies around the province.